work for the federal government -- all of those same benefits. >> it's interesting that the obama administration is not defending the law with the justice department. is that significant? >> it's very significant. it's pretty unusual. it happens once in a while. obama's come out and said, we've looked at this. it's a legal issue that we've looked at and it is an unconstitutional statute so we're not going to defend it. could be a political thing, too. >> what does that mean for gay people if the defense of marriage act is struck down in this country? >> it just means that we're going to have availability of benefits on the federal level. we have them on the state level for those states that have same-sex marriage. but it's not going to make it illegal not to have same-sex marriage. it will be a start in the right direction for full rights for gay people. >> for self-esteem and for -- as gay people say, pride, it would also mean a lot as well? >> it's the first step. and i think it's the right decision. >> thank you, karen. very interesting. argued in front of the supreme court. go

. military's official stance on action in syria? >> well, you know, the obama administration has been taking the lead on working the diplomatic frant, diplomat ic front, if you will, what they have been doing for months and months for now is trying to get assad to go by putting diplomatic pressure on, to a large extent, working through russia, obviously, which is one of assad's last allies, a lot of chat out there could assad get asign lum somewhere, something like that. by all accounts they have been willing to continue with the diplomatic track until this development. now, we're not saying there is going to be military action, but certainly the military planning, being updated, the options being updated, because now of this movement of chemical weapons, and a very good understanding, they tell us, of the locations of where they are, and the intent, possible intent to use them, that's what's leading to this potential change in something that everyone is concerned about. it is why you saw president obama warning assad so stride endly this week. >> and there has got to be so much discussion a

people. obama administration says it agrees that the law is unconstitutional so the house of representatives has hired outside lawyers to represent the law. >> because justice department has said you know what, this is ugly and we don't like it. it is here. but we are not going to enforce it. if this goes to the supreme court, who argues on behalf of the government? if the government does want to discuss it who discusses it for the government? >> paul clement, very distinguished lawyer hired by the house of representatives. former solicitor general under george w. bush. he argued the health care case and argued the arizona immigration case. she a very experienced advocate. that position will be very well represented. >> strangely we wouldn't have the current solicitor general. >> it happens, you know, about once every ten years. when the department of justice says we cannot represent the government. we just think that this is beyond the pale. that's what he is there done here. >> let me flip to prop 8. just so everyone is clear what jeffrey was talking about with the defense

thought president obama would pick good cabinet members. 58% said they thought he would, 42% said he would not. emily schmidt, cnn, washington. >>> one cabinet member on the president teems of advisers since the very beginning, epa administrator lisa jack sorn had a chance to talk with her one on one friday night after an event that i moderated by the environmental group captain planet foundation here in atlanta. we started off talking about the importance of the epa, the efforts by some republicans to actually get rid of the agency. >> if you ask the average american, are you for it, what does it mean to live in america, part of what they say is i have clean water and air to breathe. i have a right to go to my govlt p if i think there's contamination in my xunt and have it cleaned up. >> in a lot of folks you have folks like newt gingrich who say the epa, get rid of it. these are job killers and regulators, and this is bad for business. how do you confront republicans like newt gingrich who still put that out there and says, look, i don't know the agency should exist? >> well, i sta

with the palestinians, with europeans, and maybe with the obama administration. >> maybe not extreme when it comes -- when you put it in that context and framework. it's extreme when you come to any consent with a two-state solution. israel saying it has to protect its strategic interests. what are they when it comes to e-1, the area that's going to cut the west bank in half, from north to south, effectively? >> i don't think it's a matter of strategy. certainly not when it comes to security. it's a matter of ideology and politics. e-1 under consideration sense rabin, who basically expanded but agreed informally with the americans there would be no building in e-1 and whatever building was done would be in agreement with what at the time credible, viable palestinian partner. e-1 has sat, little has gone on there. they've done some infrastructure planning and road construction. again, michael, i don't think benjamin nettanyahu will go through with e-1. he'll increase the number of units in east jerusalem which to the southeast will make it more difficult to create any measure of conti

courts have held that that is unconstitutional, that it is unlawful discrimination. the obama administration agrees that this law is unconstitutional. it's now being defended by a lawyer hired by the house of representatives, and the case about is the defense of marriage act constitutional, that is one. there are several different cases raising that issue that the justices are probably going to decide whether to hear today. >> california's prop 8, what would that entail? >> propositional is a very different case because that's really a more fundamental case that potentially could apply in every state of the union. basically that question is does the constitution require that everyone, gay or straight, has the right to get married, and what makes the proposition 8 case potentially so earth-shaking in its politics is that it might not apply only in california. it might apply in the 40 plus states that don't have same-sex marriage. it could essentially bring same-sex marriage to the whole country. that's a very different, much broader issue than the defense of marriage act. >> an

are getting reaction from the obama administration now which has been closely monitoring the numbers in washington. that's where we find the white house correspondent brianna keilar. we hope the leaf blower is done. what do you hear? >> reporter: no leaf blower, no jackhammer. we are getting reaction from the white house, obviously. they saw this positively, don. month surprise. this coming from the chairman of the president's council of economic advisors. it says while more work remains to be done today's employment report provides further evidence the u.s. economy is continuing to heal and continuing to heal from the wounds inflicted by the worst downturn since the great depression. this is obviously similar to what we heard in past months. but the president or -- certainly the white house pointing to this as proof that his economic policies should continue. specifically in this reaction. they point to that bush era tax cut for middle class americans that's set to expire along with tax cuts for all americans. here at the end of the year saying that that needs to get pushed through.

will. >> and just why would the obama administration balk at enforcing laws that were on the books for decades. >> there is the legal issue. >> here you have states for president obama, colorado in fact is a swing state. the states have spoken, and for the federal government to come in and say we want to quash the popular mandate, there are political risks to do that. >> and there is also some precedents for medical marijuana which is already legal in 18 states and the district of columbia. >> but don't think that medical marijuana is exempt from scrutiny, the feds can go after that, too, one spokesperson said. president obama said we won't be legalizing weed any time soon. >>> the attacks stunned the u.s. but now we may get more information on the attack on benghazi and the arrest of a suspect. we'll have a report in just a few moments. many of my patients still clean their dentures with toothpaste. but they have to use special care in keeping the denture clean. dentures are very different to real teeth. they're about 10 times softer and may have surface pores where bacteria can multi